By: Luke Olson, MGCP
As I watch the youth sports scene unfold, one thing that constantly sticks out to me is the number of young athletes that play the game with incredibly high expectations. We’re currently raising a generation that looks at mistakes as failures and occasionally defines themselves by how they perform in a game. From my experience as a high school coach, I can say that the most successful high school athletes are not the ones that make the fewest mistakes, but the ones that do the best job at dealing with their mistakes. High-performing athletes understand that mistakes are part of the game and they move on past mistakes quicker than their peers. With that being said, here are some things youth parents can do to start teaching their athlete’s the value in making mistakes at their age.
Feedback after the game should focus more on the reaction. “I’m really proud of the way you competed after a couple plays didn’t go your way.” “I loved how you handed the ball to the official, even when you disagreed with the call.” Behavior that is justifiably praised will be repeated.
Luke Olson, MGCP
Performance Coach
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